Thursday, April 17, 2008

Poems in Our Pockets

My mom told me a few days ago that April is officially Poetry Month. Who knew? I certainly didn't. You'd think that when I pick up a poetry contest flyer at our local library that would be a great big clue. Nope. Sometimes, I am really brainless.

Well, I'm glad my mom mentioned it to me. Poetry is an often overlooked subject in our house, so I was eager to try something different and hopefully fun. In fact, today is Poem in Your Pocket Day. So in celebration, we read poetry in the morning.

I gathered the kids 'round the kitchen table and had each find a poem to share from the books gathered. I chose a lesser known Robert Frost poem, my daughter chose 3 poems by Valerie Worth, my younger sons chose some Shel Silverstein poems (figures...they love funny things) and my oldest chose 1 from Valerie Worth and 1 from Ogden Nash. It was interesting to see what everyone decided upon. I think some of the choosing of poems however, were due to how many words they were comprised of and ...

...how long it would take them to copy down the poems. Oh well. But after copying onto tiny slips of paper, cutting them out and folding them, each poem was stuffed into pocket necklaces.

My oldest is actually wearing his; of course it'll be removed as soon as he steps outside...

My mom told me how she had made a pocket to wear around the neck, a beaded one, which she gave to a poetic friend. I liked the idea, so last night I quickly sewed up some tiny pockets to wear. They sort of remind me of phylacteries or tiny amulets.

This is a good shape for poems that can be rolled into tiny scrolls...

Next time we do something like this, I'll take more time and actually sew a lining and turn under every seam, add a button or a tie enclosure. But at least for now the idea was fun; the kids enjoyed reading the poems. We're wearing our necklaces all day long (at least inside the house).

When we leave the house, I know that only mine and my daughter's will remain around our necks. And when we do this next year or at another time, I might even have them write their own poetry to share.

If you don't have any poetry books on hand, here are some good sites to peruse: